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English Synthetic Phonics in an International Context

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English Synthetic Phonics in an International Context English synthetic phonics in an international context: How using synthetic phonics with non‐native English speakers can help with bilingualism ‐ and suggestions for good practice 1. What are the ‘Synthetic Phonics Teaching Principles’ and why are they recommended so highly for teaching reading and spelling? For teaching reading, the word synthetic refers to synthesising or blending the sounds to make a spoken word. The reader scans through a printed word, from left to right, to note any letter groups, then utters a sound for all the graphemes from left to right and blends the sounds to achieve the target word. The Synthetic Phonics Teaching Principles, however, include not only the process of teaching reading, but also the process of teaching spelling and handwriting – and the alphabetic code is taught as reversible. Features of the Synthetic Phonics Teaching Principles In the simplest terms: KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS; APPLY AND EXTEND Teach alphabetic code knowledge = the letter/s‐sound correspondences Teach three core phonics skills (and their sub‐skills): Decoding ‐ sound out recognised graphemes (letters and letter groups) all‐through‐ the‐printed‐word and blend the sounds to read the word Encoding ‐ orally segment the sounds all‐through‐the‐spoken‐word then select letters and letter groups as code for the sounds to spell the word Handwriting ‐ form upper and lower case letters correctly to write the word Apply to a cumulative bank of words for: word level pupil practice of all the core phonics skills Extend to a cumulative bank of sentences and texts for: sentence and text level pupil practice of all the core phonics skills Note: In leading‐edge practice, spelling (starting with orally segmenting the spoken word therefore a sound‐to‐print process) is taught as the reverse of reading (which is a print‐to‐ sound process) generally within the same lessons. Copyright Debbie Hepplewhite 2011 Page 1 of 11 The Synthetic Phonics Teaching Principles in full: Teach the alphabetic code knowledge (the relationship between 44+ speech sounds and the many letters and letter groups that are code for the sounds) by systematically and comprehensively introducing the letter/s‐ sound correspondences of the English alphabetic code. If possible, introduce at least two correspondences per week at first, including vowel letters and sounds and consonant letters and sounds (dependent upon age, time spent on phonics teaching, capacity of learners to learn). Start with mainly one grapheme (spelling alternative) for each of the 44+ phonemes (the smallest identifiable sounds in English speech that change the meaning of a word) before broadening out to focus on further graphemes (spelling alternatives) and pronunciation variations. Model how to put the letter/s‐sound correspondences introduced (the alphabetic code knowledge) to immediate use with real words teaching the three core phonics skills of: 1. Decoding (reading) – Synthesise (sound out and blend) all‐through‐the‐printed‐word to ‘hear’, or ‘discern’, the target word. Modify the pronunciation of the word to sound like the ‘real’ word where necessary. (Sub‐skills: hear the sounds /k/ /ai/ /k/, to discern the word “cake”; see the letter/s, then say the sounds) 2. Encoding (spelling) – Orally segment (split up) all‐through‐the‐spoken‐word to identify the phonemes (sounds) and know which graphemes (letters and letter groups) are code for the identified sounds. (Sub‐skills: hear the sounds, then write, air‐write, select grapheme tiles or point to the letters or letter groups) 3. Handwriting – Learn to write the lower case letter shapes, then the upper case (capital) letter shapes, of the alphabet correctly ‐ including their positions on writing lines. Hold the writing implement with the tripod grip. Provide regular dictation exercises from letter level to text level (as appropriate). Provide cumulative, decodable words, sentences and texts which match the level of alphabetic code knowledge and blending skills taught to date, when asking the learner to read or write independently. Emphasise letter sounds at first and not letter names. Learn letter names in the first instance by chanting the alphabet or singing an alphabet song. Distinguish teaching the alphabet from teaching the alphabetic code. Do not teach an ‘initial sight vocabulary’ where learners are expected to memorise words as whole shapes (for example, through whole words on flash cards). Do not teach or encourage guessing or predicting words from their shape, or from picture cues, context cues or initial letter cues (sometimes known as ‘multi‐cueing’ or a ‘range of reading strategies’). Introduce useful, common ‘tricky words’ slowly and systematically emphasising the blending skill once the tricky or unusual letter, or letters, have been pointed out. For example, when teaching the word ‘you’, say, “In this word (pointing at the printed word ‘you’), these letters (pointing at ‘ou’), are code for /oo/.” (‘Tricky words’ are a small number of words, in which there are rare/unusual graphemes, or, common useful words in which not all the graphemes have yet been formally taught, which tend to be used in early reading material.) Teach according to a planned and structured phonics progression – but also teach incidental phonics as the need arises. [The promotion of teaching incidental as well as systematic phonics is Debbie’s ‘Two‐Pronged’ approach to synthetic phonics teaching and may be very helpful in a bi‐lingual or ‘English as an Additional Language’ context.] Note: The synthetic phonics teaching approach is set within a literacy‐rich environment and requires a full range of further age‐appropriate communication, language and literacy activities and creative opportunities in the English language whenever possible. Synthetic phonics teaching is generally at the level of the ‘phoneme’ (smallest sound that usually changes the meaning of the word: /b/ /oa/ /t/, /k/ /oa/ /t/) and not onset and rime (short words split in two such as: r‐est, tr‐ick, fl‐ap); not consonant clusters, blends or adjacent consonants (there are 76 consonant clusters such as: bl,, sp, scr, ‐nd ‐mp, ‐st) and not word families (word endings are the same such as: cake, make, take, flake). Copyright Debbie Hepplewhite 2011 Page 2 of 11 The three complexities of the English alphabetic code: 1. One, two, three or four letters can be code for one phoneme (sound) e.g. /s/ s as in ‘sat’, /f/ ph as in ‘graph’, /igh/ igh as in ‘night’, /ai/ eigh as in ‘eight’ 2. Most phonemes can be represented by different graphemes (letters or letter groups) e.g. the sound /oa/ can be represented by: o, oa, ow, oe, o‐e, eau, ough 3. Some graphemes are code for more than one phoneme e.g. the grapheme ‘ough’ can be: /oa/ as in though, /u/ as in borough, /ou/ as in plough, /or/ as in thought, long /oo/ as in through Why are the synthetic phonics teaching principles recommended so highly for reading and spelling? There is a body of research to show that the best reading results when teaching the English language are achieved by explicit teaching of the ‘Five Pillars of Literacy’: phonemic awareness, systematic phonics, fluency achieved by repetition, vocabulary enrichment and language comprehension. National enquiries were conducted in the USA (2000), Australia (2005) and the UK (2005‐6). In the UK, the parliamentary inquiry ‘Teaching Children to Read’ (March 2005) followed by the national review ‘Independent review of the teaching of early reading’ (Final Report, Sir Jim Rose, March 2006) looked at leading‐edge classroom practice as well as the body of research – concluding that systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) should be recommended to all schools. In 2011, more emphasis was placed on the use of cumulative, decodable texts. Systematic synthetic phonics is the best approach for teaching reading and spelling in the English language, regardless of whether learners are learning only English for their spoken language or where English is an additional language. In the UK, many learners are learning English as a new spoken language or it is their second or additional language ‐ and systematic synthetic phonics teaching still achieves the highest results. 2. The English ‘alphabetic code’ as an essential visual aid: the Alphabetic Code Chart ‐ and how this can help teachers in international contexts to teach the English ‘sounds’ and their spellings Around 44 discrete (separate) sounds, or phonemes, can be identified in English speech compared, for example, to around 24 sounds in the Spanish language. There are, however, additional combined phonemes which make sense to teach, amounting to around 50 units of sound. [Refer to your mini Alphabetic Code Chart and count the total ‘units of sound’ shown within the slash marks that are introduced.] Copyright Debbie Hepplewhite 2011 Page 3 of 11 The use of an Alphabetic Code Chart helps teachers in international contexts to be aware of the differences between the English alphabetic code and the alphabetic code of the mother tongue – that is, the relationship between spoken sounds and their spelling alternatives (or ‘spelling choices’). This is very important professional knowledge. Simpler alphabetic codes are known as transparent codes, whereas the English alphabetic code is much more complex and referred to as an opaque code. In England, a comprehensive alphabetic code may also be referred to as the extended code because a simple version of the code is taught systematically at first (simple: all the sounds and mainly one spelling as code for each sound). The sound‐to‐graphemes shown on the Alphabetic Code Chart as a visual aid makes the sounds and their spelling alternatives ‘tangible’ – more easily grasped by the mind. With greater professional knowledge and understanding, and with a large scale main Alphabetic Code Chart in classrooms, teachers will be able to engage their learners with the rationale of the ‘sounds’ within spoken words and their ‘spelling alternatives’ for the English language.
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